Detachable fastener.



Patented .lune I2, I900.

J. CHASE. DETACHABLE FASTENER.

(Application filed Aug. 8, 1898.) (N n M o d a I as ca. momu'rnuuwAsmNsTum n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSIAH B. CHASE, OF NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE BALL ANDSOCKET: FASTENER COMPANY, OF NASI-IUA, NElV HAMPSHIRE, AND

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

oETAoHAeLE FASTENER.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 651,434, dated June 12,1900.

Application filed August 8; 1898i Serial No. 688,127. (No model.)

,To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOSIAH B. CHASE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Newton, in the county of Middlesex and State ofMassachusetts, have inventeda new and useful Improvement in DetachableFasteners, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming apart of this IO specification, in explaining its nature.

This invention relates especially to the socket member of a detachablefastener.

It consists in the combination of a metal gromet applied to the thing orfabric with which the fastener is employed (and which may or may not bea holding-gromet in the sense that it may receive the draft on the ball)and a socket-piece,which is independently attached upon the outersurface of the thing or fabric with which the socket member is used andwhich has a yielding socket-entrance and a wall surrounding thesocket-entrance, the whole being surrounded by an attachingfiange, thearrangement of these parts being 2 5 such that the socketentrance willnormally stand substantially in line with the opening through the fabricor gromet, so that the ball member when inserted through the openingwill enter the socketentrance. This 0 socket-piece is like thatdescribed and claimed in Letters Patent N 0. 604,637, granted May 24,1898; but in the present invention it is so used that engaging access tothe socket-entrance may only be obtained through a hole 5 or perforationin the material through whichv the ball member must be passed to makeengagement with said socketentrance, thus differing from the use shownin said patent,

where its raised wall bears against the sur- 0 face of the fabric orthing, so that its socket entrance is presented away from said surface,

and the fabric is not perforated. In the presentcase the socket-piecemay take the entire strain, in which case the gromet will serve as abinding and finish for the hole and also as a stay or reinforcement tothe socket-entrance, or the socket-piece may serve as a spring-holder toprevent the easy withdrawal of the ball member, in which case the grometwill be mainly relied upon to withstand lat- 5o eral draft, thesedifferences of action depending somewhat upon the relative dimen= sionsof the-parts and also upon the firmness of the material to which theyare applied.-

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a View in plan of a strap, representing itsends disengaged and provided one with a ball member and the other with asocket member. Fig. 2 is a view, also in plan, representing the two endsof the strap as attached by the engagement of the two members of thefastener. Fig. 3 is a view in section on the dotted line 3 3 of Fig. 2.Fig. 4 is a view in section upon the same line of the attached socketmember without the ball. Fig. 5 is a View in plan, inverted, of theattached socket member. Fig.

6 is a view in plan of the inner face of the gromet. Fig. 7 representsthe two parts or sections from which the gromet is made. Fig. Sis a viewin section showing the relative relation of parts when the socket-pieceis acting to prevent separation of the two members while the gromet iswithstanding the lateral draft. Fig. 9 represents in plan a socketpiecehaving three slits, none of which extend through the flange.

Referring to the drawings, A is the ball member ofthe fastener andpreferably has the wide perforated attaching-flange a, by which it maybe attached by sewing to the face of the thing or fabric with which itis used.

B is the socket member. It comprises the metal gromet I), applied aboutthe edgeof the hole I) in the thing or fabric to which the socket memberis attached, and which provides the hole with the metal edge b and thecontinuous metal protecting-flange b upon 'the'under surface of thething or fabric and the flange 17 upon the upper or outer surface of thething or fabric. 1 9o C is the socket-piece. It has'thesocketentrance 0,preferably yielding, the flange 0', having perforations 0 by means ofwhich it is attached to the outer face of the thing or fabric, and thedouble wall 0 which extends 5 from the socketentrance outward andinward, forming the ball-holding cavity 0 and a raised wall 0 about it.This socket-piece is secured to the thing or fabric, as represented inFig. 3, to bring the socket-entrance concentrically in line with thehole I) and with its wall a outermost and the socket-entrance cinnermost. It also covers the flange b of the gromet.

I prefer to make the gromet of the two parts represented in Fig. 7, theeyelet d providing the finishing-flange b the binding or metal edge 6and the fastening extension b and the part I) being in the nature of aninner washer, which may be slightly dished and upon which the fasteningextensions b are turned. (See Fig. (3.)

In attaching the socket member the material is first provided with ahole, the gromet set to bind the hole, and the socket-piece C placedover the gromet, with its socket-entrance concentrically in line withthe hole thereof, its wall 0 extending outward, and its flange bearingagainst the material beyond the outer edge of the flange b of thegromet, the flange being secured to the material. The cavity formed bythe wall a may receive the gromet in part or the portion b In insertingthe eyelet d the walls will usually become slit, as shown in Fig. 6.

In Fig. 3 I have represented the neck of the ball as in engagement withthe socket-entrance when under strain and in Fig. 8 as in engagementwith the gromet. To engage the members, the ball is passed through thehole in the gromet and through the socket-entrance into thesocket-cavity, as 'in Fig. 8, or directly into the socket-entrance andinto the socketcavity, as in Fig. 3, and the neck of the ball may bearagainst the edge of the socket-entrance or the edge of the gromet whenthe members are subjected to lateral draft.

The inven tion is especially applicable to the larger and heavierusessuch, for instance, as horse-b1ankets, surcingles and large strapsof that character, heavy curtains, like the eu rtains of sleeping-cars,850. Under such circumstances the fact that the wall 0 projects outwardenables the socket-piece to form a chamber within which the gromet willlie, as will be understood from Figs. 3 and at, so that the thickness ofthe gromet will not add to the thickness of the socket member.

In Fig. 9 there is shown a socket piece which has a continuous flange,the resiliency being obtained by slits extending from the edge of thepiece at the socket-entrance into or through the wall surrounding thesocketentrance but not extending through the flange. This provides astructure with a stiffer flange than that in which the slit extendsthrough the flange and is of value for that reason.

Having thus fully described my invention I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent of the United States 1. The combination of an article orfabric having a hole formed therein with a socketpiece having a yieldingsocket-entrance located about said hole, a fastening-flange adapted forattachment to said article independent of said hole, and a wallinterposed between said socket-entrance and said flange and projectingupward away from the surface of said fabric and said flange, and saidsocket-entrance projecting downward from the upper portion of said walltoward said hole and being located to receive the ball member of afastener when projected through said hole.

2. An article or fabric having a hole and provided with a metal grometbinding the edge of said hole and forming a finisl1ing= flange b to itsunder surface, in combination with a socket-piece 0 attached to theupper surface of the article or fabric independently of said gromet andhaving a fastening or attaching flange, a raised wall and asocketentrance located substantially in line with the hole in saidgromet, as and for the pur= poses set forth.

3. In a separable fastener, a ball member in combination with a socketmember consisting of a socket-piece, a hole in the article or fabric towhich said socket-piece is attached and a metal gromet binding saidhole, said socket-piece being attached to the surface of said materialindependently of said gromet and surrounding said gromet and locatedupon the upper side of said hole, and being provided withasocket-entrance in line with said hole adapted to engage the ball ofthe ball member after it has been passed through said hole, as and forthe purposes set forth.

4. The combination in a socket member of a separable fastener, of asocket-piece adapted to engage the ball member of a fastener in orthrough a hole in the fabric to which the socket-piece is secured, and ametal bind-.

ing for said hole said socket-piece and said metal binding beingattached to the fabric independent of each other, as and for thepurposes set forth.

5. In the socket member of a separable fastener, the combination of asocket-piece adapted to engage the ball member of the fastener in orthrough a hole in the fabric, to which... the socket-piece isindependently secured, and a gromet binding said hole, said socket-piecebeing provided with a socketentrance, an attaching-flange and awalllying between said entrance and said attachingflange, said wall beingraisedfrom the fabric and forming a chamber within which said gromet maylie, as and for the purposes set forth.

JOSIAH l3. CHASE.

In presence of- J. M. DOLAN, L. A. WALSH.

